Prohibiting Adversarial Patents Act of 2026

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 9142 Introduced in House (IH)]

<DOC>

119th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 9142

To amend title 35, United States Code, to limit the ability of persons
who pose a threat to national security to receive and enforce patents,
                        and for other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              June 4, 2026

 Mr. Fitzgerald (for himself, Mr. Moolenaar, and Mr. Issa) introduced
    the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the
                               Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

To amend title 35, United States Code, to limit the ability of persons
who pose a threat to national security to receive and enforce patents,
                        and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Prohibiting Adversarial Patents Act
of 2026''.

SEC. 2. LIMITATION ON ABILITY OF PERSONS WHO POSE A THREAT TO NATIONAL
              SECURITY TO RECEIVE AND ENFORCE PATENTS.

    (a) In General.--Chapter 10 of title 35, United States Code, is
amended by adding at the end the following:
``Sec. 106. Limitation on ability of persons who pose a threat to
              national security to receive and enforce patents
    ``(a) Limitation.--Notwithstanding any other provision of law--
            ``(1) a person may not be issued a United States patent for
        an invention if that person (or any subsidiary, affiliate,
        successor, assign, legal representative, or privy of such
        person)--
                    ``(A) is an entity on the Non-SDN Chinese Military-
                Industrial Complex Companies List (NS-CMIC List)
                maintained by the Office of Foreign Assets Control of
                the Department of the Treasury under Executive Order
                14032 (86 Fed. Reg. 30145; relating to addressing the
                threat from securities investments that finance certain
                companies of the People's Republic of China), or any
                successor order;
                    ``(B) is identified as a Chinese military company
                in the most recent annual report submitted pursuant to
                section 1260H of the William M. (Mac) Thornberry
                National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021
                (Public Law 116-283; 10 U.S.C. 113 note); or
                    ``(C) produces or provides communications equipment
                or service on the list published by the Federal
                Communications Commission under section 2(a) of the
                Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Act of 2019
                (47 U.S.C. 1601(a));
            ``(2) any United States patent issued to a person described
        under paragraph (1) shall be unenforceable; and
            ``(3) no procedure, including any procedure under the
        Patent Prosecution Highway Program, may be used to conduct an
        expedited review an application for a patent filed by a person
        described under paragraph (1).
    ``(b) Waiver.--
            ``(1) In general.--The President may waive the application
        of the prohibition under subsection (a) with respect to a
        person for successive periods of not more than 180 days each if
        the President--
                    ``(A) determines that there is not an essential
                security interest in applying the prohibition under
                subsection (a) with respect to a person; and
                    ``(B) submits, not less than 30 days before waiving
                such prohibition, a report to the Committee on the
                Judiciary of the Senate and the Committee on the
                Judiciary of the House of Representatives--
                            ``(i) a specific and detailed rationale for
                        the determination that there is not an
                        essential security interest in applying the
                        prohibition with respect to that person;
                            ``(ii) a description of the activity that
                        resulted in the person being included on a list
                        or in a report described under subparagraphs
                        (A) through (C);
                            ``(iii) an assessment of the significance
                        of such activity to the national security
                        interests of the United States or allies of the
                        United States; and
                            ``(iv) an explanation of any effort made by
                        the United States to secure the cooperation of
                        the government with primary jurisdiction over
                        the person or the location where the activity
                        described in clause (ii) occurred in to
                        terminate, as appropriate, or penalize such
                        activity.
            ``(2) Consistency with international obligations.--The
        President shall ensure that in granting any waiver under this
        subsection, the President exercises such authority in a manner
        that is consistent with international obligations.
    ``(c) No Effect on Patent Application; Ownership and Term of
Patent.--The application of the prohibition under subsection (a), or
the grant of any waiver under subsection (b), to a person shall not
affect--
            ``(1) the ability of such person file a patent application;
            ``(2) except as provided in subsection (a)(3), the
        examination of any such application; or
            ``(3) the ownership or term of any patent owned by such
        person.''.
    (b) Clerical Amendment.--The table of sections for chapter 10 of
title 35, United States Code, is amended by inserting after the item
relating to section 105 the following:

``106. Limitation on ability of persons who pose a threat to national
                            security to receive and enforce patents.''.
                                 <all>